Picturesque low dams turn deadly with swift currents

When the water is calm, low-head dams like this one on the Big Blue River in Edinburgh, Ind., are popular fishing and swimming spots. But when the water is high, these dams turn deadly. In 2014, two teens drowned and a third suffered brain damage at this same spot.(Photo: Rob Goebel, The Indianapolis Star)

COLUMBUS, Ind. — When conditions are right, low-head dams make picturesque, inviting structures that seem a perfect place for casting a fishing line or taking a dip.

But when the water is high or moving fast, these dams are deadly.

"They are very, very deceiving structures," said Kenneth Smith, assistant director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' division of water. "If there has been a large rainfall, … they change from that scenic, peaceful place into something with a very violent reverse current that can trap somebody below the dam."

Earlier this month at one of these dams, an Indianapolis woman lost her life while trying to rescue a dog. And as spring rains and thaws make streams run faster across the USA, others could be in the same danger.

Witnesses saw Jackie Watts chasing a lost dog March 3 near a dam on the Flatrock River here. Watts was trying to rescue a 10-year-old partially blind poodle named Ringo.

The dog had been separated from his family days before.

“About 20% of the states have a fairly clear picture of the potential low-head dam hazard, about 25% have an incomplete or partial understanding and a little over half the states have little or no understanding.”

Bruce Tschantz, Tennessee Water Resources Research Center

Ringo went into the water. So did Watts.

Neither surfaced.

Her body was discovered March 4 not far from the dam. The Bartholomew County coroner ruled that Watts had drowned.

Ringo's body was found the next day farther downstream.

Columbus police couldn't say for sure, but evidence suggests that the churning waters of the dam played a significant role in Watts' death.

Safety experts have described these dams, which don't create a bulging reservoir behind them but instead allow water to flow over them when the pool behind is at capacity, as "drowning machines." Tens of thousands were built in the 1800s to power grist and other mills, according to Bruce Tschantz, an engineer, senior research associate at the Tennessee Water Resources Research Center and a former professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Some are still built and used today to raise a water level around a water treatment plant or divert water to an irrigation canal. But many of the low-head dams have been abandoned through time, and not all states keep track of how many they have, according to the research that Tschantz did for the Association of Dam Safety Officials in Lexington, Ky.

The problem: The pool of water behind a dam starts to move more quickly as it approaches the narrower area where it will drop 1 to 15 feet. As water spills over what's usually a concrete or masonry structure, it creates a recirculating current that keeps victims trapped underneath until the turbulent waters finally spit them out.

Watts isn't the only death attributed to the more than 150 low-head dams in Indiana.

Indiana's Department of Homeland Security said at least 24 people have died since 1997.

Across the USA, more than 500 deaths have occurred since 1953, according to a database that Ed Kern, a master's candidate at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, created last year. Kern catalogued two dozen deaths in 22 incidents across 15 states last year — including a Marine veteran in Texas who saved two teens in June but died himself — and allows the public to report additional incidents to make his report more complete.

A woman is rescued in June 2001 from a boat that went over a low-head dam on the White River in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Broad Ripple.(Photo: Frank Espich, The Indianapolis Star)

Indiana also has had a lot of close calls. In 2001, rescuers used a helicopter to pull four adults and a 9-month-old boy from a boat that became stuck after partially going over a low-head dam on the White River in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Broad Ripple Village.

Of all the drownings in the state, more than 10% are dam related, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Fewer than 10 states — Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — specifically keep track of low-head dams, according to a poll that Tschantz conducted. Thirteen other states that he did not list may include them in a general dam inventory without identifying them as low-head dams.

"In summary, about 20% of the states have a fairly clear picture of the potential low-head dam hazard, about 25% have an incomplete or partial understanding and a little over half the states have little or no understanding," he wrote in a 2014 Association of Dam Safety Officials report.

In 2014 in Indiana, five high school-age friends went swimming near a low-head dam in the Big Blue River in Edinburgh. Two drowned; one survived but suffered permanent brain damage.

Sarah McLevish of Morgantown, Ind., was swept over a low-head dam and was caught underneath the water.

“People swim around these dams (when the water is calm). They jump off of them. They go over them in kayaks and canoes. That tends to give people a false sense of security.”

John Townsend II, Townsend & Townsend law firm

High school students Jason Moran, 17, and Michael Chadbourne, 16, of Franklin, Ind., died trying to rescue her. Trent Crabb, and Mark Nally, also of Franklin, came close to drowning.

"I remember I was trying to catch my breath, but I was getting water in my mouth," Crabb testified during an April 2016 deposition, part of a lawsuit filed by families of the victims against the city of Edinburgh. "I was like, 'This is what drowning is.' Like, I felt it."

Crabb survived by managing to stand and lift his head above the current.

John Townsend II, a lawyer for the McLevish, Chadborne and Moran families, said Edinburgh and other communities must do more to raise awareness about the dangers of these dams.

"What ends up happening is people swim around these dams (when the water is calm). They jump off of them. They go over them in kayaks and canoes," Townsend said. "That tends to give people a false sense of security."

The Edinburgh dam has been a local fishing and swimming spot for decades. The five high school friends had been swimming there just days before the waters turned deadly, Townsend said.

Sarah McLevish was under water too long and suffered severe brain damage caused from a lack of oxygen. Today, Townsend said McLevish can't talk, get dressed or take care of herself.

The families want officials to warn people about the dangers. The Edinburgh dam still has no warning signs around it, Townsend said.

Only 9 states know exact number of low dams

Fewer than 20% of all states know how many low-head dams they have. These dams, generally concrete or brick, are 1 to 15 feet high and allow water to run over the top when the pool behind the dam is full. When currents are swift, they can be death traps because of water that swirls below the structures that can keep people submerged and unable to emerge for air.